The Puaka Matariki Festival is underway, and tino pai! Kā mihi nunui to all who attended the launch and the events that commenced our week-long-plus celebration of Te Ao Māori, wānaka, mahi toi, and whanaukataka.

Unfortunately, we have to POSTPONE tomorrow’s Flax and Māori Perfume event. Tania Manuhiri Bell is unable to travel this weekend, so Orokonui will reschedule this awesome opportunity to hear about the traditional uses of kāretu (scented holy grass), and other taoka species in their pā harakeke, for later in the winter. We will let you know when this will happen, as soon as it’s arranged.

Mauri ora – get well soon, Tania!

Ehara, there are heaps of other events on this weekend, and throughout the week. You can download the full programme from our homepage to print out for yourself.

It’s up! This year’s schedule of events is now on the Dunedin Puaka Matariki Festival website. Soon a downloadable version will be posted too, so you’ll be able to print one off for yourself to have tucked into your bag when you’re out and about.

You’ll see there are dozens of events to participate in, right across the city. From wānaka and toi Māori to whare tapere and hāngī, there is bound to be something on that you and your whānau and friends will enjoy celebrating our Māori New Year at, so get into it!

Renowned local storyteller Kaitrin McMullan will entertain, amuse and delight Dunedin kindergarten children, teachers and whānau with Puaka Matariki stories from around the Pacific. Kindergartens will invite families and wider community to attend special gatherings, and depending on the time of day they will go outside and look for the ‘super stars’ of the sky.
Contact your local kindy for details.

Mana Manaaki Puawai o Ōtepoti – Dunedin Kindergartens

During June and into early July (before the end of term 2); various times – each kindergarten will host the story teller at a time to suit them. FREE
Contact lee@dk.org.nz 03 455 8892 dunedinkindergartens.org.nz

Māori Women’s Theatre Festival Whare Tapere

To celebrate Puaka Matariki 2017, this inaugural Māori Women’s Theatre Festival Whare Tapere features the premiere of Barrier Ninja: A Unique Verbatim Play about Hauora and Te Ao o Ngā Tokorima – a rangatahi workshop presentation that gives an audience a glimpse behind the theatre curtain of how theatre is created.
The Māori Women’s Theatre Festival is supported by Creative Communities and Māori Girl Creative.

Ngā Toi Theatre Workshops: Preparation for Puaka Matariki
Nau mai, haere mai! Come and join the fun learning the basics of being an actor, and the skills to devise a play. Attend all three workshops, then present what you have learnt in a public presentation during Puaka Matariki.
Te reo Māori and English will be used in all workshop. Sorry, no sign language yet.
Workshops facilitators: Tarn Felton, Julie Edwards, Emere Leitch-Munro and Georgia Latu.
Bring kai for a shared lunch. All ages can attend.

Blue Oyster is excited to be joining in the festivities of Puaka Matariki for the sixth year, presenting A Shelter for Amnesic Relatives for the month of June.
Ammon Ngakuru (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Manipoto) from Tāmaki Makaurau explores notions of self-sufficiency, environmental instability, uncertainty, and the attempt (and potential failure) to exist outside of dominant cultural systems, and how we might find equivalences to or read this social situation from Aotearoa.
Everyone is welcome to participate in this opportunity to learn, share and understand more about contemporary Māori art.

Lee Ralph is revered by the hardcore skateboarding community as a pioneer and icon. In the late 1980s, Ralph went on a wild journey to the States, where he became part of the Vision Skateboard team alongside street skateboarding legend Mark Gonzales.
Hailing from Rawene in the Far North, Ralph has studied Māori carving since childhood. Ralph’s carvings speak to the preservation and continuation of culture, fusing modern materials such as spray paint and enamels with traditional Māori methodologies.
SAVOIE de LACY is pleased to announce a short-term residency by Lee Ralph and partner Tania Riki Riki. Feel free to drop by and meet them! The work will then be on show, in case you miss them.

In 2050, the oceans will contain more plastic than fish.
Puaka Matariki is a time to reaffirm the principals and protocols that teach us how to live in balance with the natural world. Installation artist Kari Morseth invites viewers of Tangaroa’s Sorrow to contemplate the impact of our actions on the environment, and to consider how to protect and sustain our resources in the face of this unsettling prediction.

The community of Musselburgh is invited to join in a day of wānaka and celebration of Māori New Year, opened by Musselburgh School kapa haka led by Whāea Jenny Donaldson and Moeraima Wetere with support from Matua Hata Timo.
Featuring an audio-visual presentation about the Matariki star cluster and planting traditions from kaikōrero Victoria Campbell, a talk about taiaha from kaiwhakaako rākau Vicky Totoro, and information about the correct way to gather weaving materials from kaiwhatu Heidi Holmes – there’s something for everyone!
Hāngī lunch tickets for sale from Whaea Jenny – $12 each.

As part of the Enviroschools Dunedin Years 7-10 Hui, members of the public are invited to attend a session on planning for the next planting season.
Bring a sketch of your garden beds and what is currently in them. Use the Edible Gardening for Otago / Southland Schools booklet created by Enviroschools Dunedin, and the Vegetable Planting Calendar for Coastal Otago & Southland created for Enviroschools by Jason Ross of Habitate, to decide what, when and where to plant. Get support from Enviroschools staff, and use this time of reflection and planning to prepare a great edible garden for the next season.

A Celebration of Kaitiakitaka: Te Ao Māori, Science, Nature and Art
Join us for an entertaining evening showcasing new works by an array of artists exploring kaitiakitaka – stewardship and sustainability. Enjoy the art then bid for your favourite!
Proceeds of the auction will help send five Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtepoti students to the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WIPCE) in Toronto to present a one-hour workshop ‘Science through an indigenous lens – a moth study’, following their Ahi Pepe MothNet journey.
Ahi Pepe MothNet is a growing citizen science project that explores the network of connections and links that make up the ecological world. Its goal is to reconnect everyone, especially students, teachers and whānau with the natural world and use New Zealand moths as an indicator of functioning native ecosystems.
E iti noa ana nā te aroha – a small thing given with love.

Atrium Level 1, Otago Museum, 419 Great King Street, Dunedin

Friday 16 June, auction items on display from 10am to 5pm, auction from 6pm. $10 per ticket
Tickets include drink on arrival, canapes and live music
Purchase your tickets at otagomuseum.nz Door sales available
Contact 03 474 7474

Following the success of his 2015 and 2016 Puaka Matariki group shows in Dunedin, Tokerau Wilson brings a fresh posse of Māori and Pasifika artists to the Community Gallery. Combining older established artists with younger new talents, the wānaka season is celebrated through building tuākana-tēina relationships. Wairua is inclusive, showing avant-garde and outsider artists alongside more conventional practices, with an emphasis on exploring what it means to be a Māori or Pasifika artist, and celebrating Puaka Matariki – bringing people together.Wairua is supported by Creative New Zealand.

Come stare at your star Te Rā, the sun – without burning your eyes! A large projection of the sun from solar telescopes in Dunedin, Dresden, and outer space is beaming in to warm up your winter. Check the Sunroom website for times of public discussions on astrophysics, energy, ecologies, and cosmologies – everyone is welcome.Sunroom is supported by GigCity Community Fund through Urban Dream Brokerage with funding from Dunedin City Council.

To celebrate Puaka Matariki 2017, this inaugural Māori Women’s Theatre Festival Whare Tapere features the premiere of Barrier Ninja: A Unique Verbatim Play about Hauora and Te Ao o Ngā Tokorima – a rangatahi workshop presentation that gives an audience a glimpse behind the theatre curtain of how theatre is created.

Barrier Ninja: A Unique Verbatim Play about Hauora is a one act verbatim play which explores the personal experiences of nine local Dunedin people about their hauora (health), and their interactions with the health system.
Devised by Fran Kewene. Directed by Julie Edwards. Actors: Matawai Uitime-Nicolls, Donna Thompson and Fran Kewene.

Live music, theatre, aerial performance, contemporary dance, kapa haka, mau rākau and hip hop unite in Tiki Taane Mahuta, one of New Zealand’s largest nationally-devised productions ever. Nine of our nation’s leading performers will showcase on New Zealand’s greatest stages, while Tiki Taane plays his soundtrack live with support from Shapeshifter’s Sam Trevethick.Tiki Taane Mahuta depicts two generations of New Zealand families and the tragedy, hope and redemption which connect them. Expanding beyond the 1996 and 2013 settings, the production explores the ancestral realm which oversees the characters’ whakapapa – genealogy. Tiki Taane Mahuta shows the importance of community rejuvenation and the strength found through connecting with whakapapa.

Perpetual Guardian Planetarium show and field trip
Join us to celebrate Puaka Matariki with a planetarium show and a special guided field trip to the Otago Peninsula.
See a special show featuring traditional Māori and classical stories in our planetarium, then enjoy a heritage bus trip with the Otago Heritage Bus Society to view the stars. Once at the peninsula, listen to Māori stories of our night sky and look through telescopes guided by the Dunedin Astronomical Society.*
Experience the wonder of Matariki!
*If the weather is unsuitable, a trip will be made to the Beverly-Begg Observatory to look at Dunedin Astronomical Society telescopes. Visit our website for full details.

Expert Talk
Dr Jennifer Cattermole, Department of Music, Theatre and Performing Arts, University of Otago, presents findings from a pilot project connected with Marsden research on the origin and development of taoka puoro – Māori musical instruments.
Find out how traditional objects from the Museum collection were scanned to create 3D digital models and prints.
This is also an opportunity to make music with these models in the Museum’s Tāngata Whenua gallery.

South D residents are called to come together to celebrate the Māori New Year with their whānau and neighbours.
Join in a range of activities for all ages and stages, including weaving and making manu tukutuku, and celebrate the multicultural population of South Dunedin with performances from local culture groups, then sit down together over a shared meal and make new connections.

The North East Valley community will join together for shared kai and conversation as we enjoy a hāngī in celebration of the season. The whakataukī or proverb “Matariki huka nui” means “Pleiades has many admirers” – this event will bring many people together to celebrate the strengths, the joy and the aroha within our community. All are welcome!
Matariki Huka Nui is supported by Auahi Kore.

To celebrate Puaka Matariki 2017, this inaugural Māori Women’s Theatre Festival Whare Tapere features the premiere of Barrier Ninja: A Unique Verbatim Play about Hauora and Te Ao o Ngā Tokorima – a rangatahi workshop presentation that gives an audience a glimpse behind the theatre curtain of how theatre is created.

Te Ao o Ngā Tokorima is a public presentation demonstrating theatre skills that can be used to devise and perform theatre. This workshop will be different every time and will be presented by local rangatahi and tamariki.
Facilitators are Tarn Felton, Julie Edwards, Emere Leitch-Munro and Georgia Latu.

Expert Talk
University of Otago Senior Lecturer Dr Catherine Smith illustrates how the analysis of Māori textiles from South Island, New Zealand provides insight into pre-contact lifeways, and the value of using textile artefacts as a source of cultural data.

Following the success of her recent Melbourne Fashion Festival debut, showing in the Global Indigenous Runway show, fashion designer and artist Amber Bridgman brings home her latest Kahuwai collection Te Ao Mārama for an exclusive evening celebrating couture and whanauakataka.
Embodying her Southern Māori whakapapa, and personal journey since the launch of the Kahuwai label 12 years ago, Bridgman’s collection features feathers, piupiu, screen-printed images, and deconstructed vintage attire. Talented local wāhine Māori will model the collection, alongside other award-winning garments and accessories by Kahuwai.
Ticket sales help get the Kahuwai collection to other international fashion shows. Check out KAHUWAI on Facebook for updates!

Haere mai! You are invited to our midwinter Matariki Celebration Service, celebrating Aotearoa New Year. It will be family time including children’s activities, kapa haka Tikanga Wakari, waiata, the Flagstaff Community Choir, stories, and shared kai.

Dunedin kaumātua, elders, senior citizens – you are invited to celebrate Māori New Year at picturesque Ōtākou Marae. Enjoy a special Sunday roast and gentle entertainment, overlooking the sunlit harbour.
Tickets are $10 from the Rūnaka Office. Reservations are essential as seating is limited.
NB: Disability access – Hakuiao (the dining hall) is on a hillside; drop off and pick up at the South Door, via the second driveway by the water tank and mural.

Join artist Kate Belton for a screening of her film Hau. Kate will talk a little about the making of this film, and the extended O Ratou Taonga Katoa (All Their Treasures) project that it is part of.O Ratou Taonga Katoa explores the notion of promise and, ultimately, promises unfulfilled. In its verb form the Māori word taurangi means to guarantee, assure, promise or pledge, but can also mean incomplete, unfinished or unfulfilled.
The project title O Ratou Taonga Katoa (All Their Treasures) is taken from the Treaty of Waitangi, in which Māori were guaranteed rights to material and cultural resources, and “te tino rangatiratanga o ratou whenua kainga me o ratou taonga katoa”, which guaranteed the right to maintain governance and management over all their natural resources and land-holds, without interference from civil or military authority.

Come out to the stunning slopes of Orokonui to celebrate Māori New Year, and learn about traditional Māori preparation, application, and significance of perfume.
Join local weaver and Masters student Tania Manuhiri-Bell at her talk and walk around Orokonui’s pā harakeke (flax garden), where weaving plants and other taoka (treasured) species are grown, including kāretu (scented holy grass), the subject of Tania’s research.

Notable Pictures and Demand.Film bring this world-famous-in-Dunedin comedic documentary back to the star’s hometown for two special Puaka Matariki screenings. Revel in this triumphant celebration of mateship and pro-wrestling, and afterwards hear from Wilbur McDougall about how he fought his demons, and from University of Otago nutrition expert Dr Lisa Te Morenga about tackling one of the growing problems within our health system.

In celebration of Matariki, Dunedin Public Libraries are delighted to welcome Otago University’s College of Education Children’s Writer in Residence, Dr Mere Whaanga.
An opportunity to enjoy a reading from Dr Mere Whaanga’s latest book, alongside a presentation of its beautiful illustrations.
Dr Whaanga discusses the writing and illustrating of The Singing Dolphin: Te Aihe I Waiata, her reasons for the bilingual format of the book, and some of the issues and advantage in writing bilingual text.

This midwinter, everyone is invited into the warmth of midtown gallery Studio2 to view Te Pōuri ki Te Mārama. Celebrating the dawning of a new year, this exhibition invites contemplation of the birth of the star Puaka and the star cluster Matariki, when Papatūānuku and Ranginui were separated by Tāne Mahuta. Works will explore the role of the stars at this time of year, and the journey towards the light of summer and the new life of spring.

Dunedin primary and intermediate schools are invited to bring their classes to meet the University of Otago College of Education Writer in Residence, Dr Mere Whaanga.
Enjoy a reading from Dr Whaanga’s latest book, and a presentation of its beautiful illustrations. Plus, a chance to ask questions about how to write and illustrate books.
The perfect introduction for children to the world of writing stories.

Bay whānau are invited to celebrate Māori New Year at Macandrew Bay School with kōrero, lantern craft and a procession. A hāngī put down in the morning will be lifted by the community around 5pm.
Hāngī must be prebooked at the school – $5 each.

Port Chalmers Kindergarten welcome the Port Chalmers and Sawyers Bay communities to hear what local under five-year-old children have been learning about Matariki, and what these stars mean to them. There will be artistic creations, waiata, and the children will share their pepeha.
This season is a time to share, connect, and build relationships between the educational providers, families, children and the community. Nau mai, haere mai!

Join us for two powerful kapa haka performances by students of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtepoti, then enjoy an exhibition showcasing their art works reflecting on their learning through the Ahi Pepe MothNet project.
The students will also talk about their involvement in this collaborative project, sell their art work, and demonstrate how to set moth traps.

From Loss to Hope – family, physical, or job. The church will be open and warm. Come in to light a candle, pray, and have a coffee. And for those who would like to stay, there will be a short reflective remembrance service.

Our event is the culmination of a week-long celebration of Puaka Matariki, where the children prepare for Puaka Matariki through sharing stories, language, art and music. We invite the community to join us for a dawn celebration and shared kai. Whānau and community members will be welcomed to the Hall with a kapa haka performance and Matariki kōrero. A shared breakfast will follow with a lantern walk back to school, ready to start our day.

Koputai community is invited to join in a breakfast celebration of Māori New Year with the students of Port Chalmers school, reflecting on the year that has been, sharing kai and knowledge about Puaka and Matariki, and planting fruit trees together for the future.

Nau mai, piki mai! The wider Opoho community is invited to join Puaka Matariki celebrations with the local tamariki. Enjoy kapa haka, kōrero, and a lantern parade, then round out the evening with hāngī prepared by the children under expert guidance.
Hāngī tickets available from the school – $10 each.

Piki mai, tautimai! Brockville folk are invited to Brockville School for Puaka Matariki legends, art work, writing, and songs, followed by shared kai. The children will finish their Maōri New Year celebration with a school disco.

Nau mai, tauti mai! Welcome to a feast of Māori arts, performance and hospitality in celebration of Puaka Matariki.
Following a Matariki performance in Queenstown, community kapa haka Te Aho Paihere are excited to show whānau, friends and neighbours their repertoire, as they prepare to compete in the up-coming Winter 10s competition.
Everyone is invited to enjoy this modern-day whare tapere at Araiteuru Marae, including kaputī during the interval.

Dunedin’s Midwinter Carnival is a sparkling celebration of winter in the heart of the city! Each year the Carnival Art Team creates exciting new, themed art works and coordinates unique performances into a spectacular event for everyone to enjoy.
The highlight of every year is the Carnival Procession, featuring over a thousand people carrying hundreds of lanterns. Memorable moments include giant lanterns, costumed stilt walkers, dancers, and musicians. This year the theme is Nocturnal Nature.
Family lantern-making workshops are held on the three weekends prior to the event – book your space now before they fill up. You can also join the dozens of volunteers who help with preparations and on the night of the event. Visit our website’s Workshops and Volunteer pages to get involved!

This article is by Alan Gilmore, former superintendent of the University of Canterbury Mount John Observatory at Tekapo.

The Earth circles the Sun through the year. This causes the Sun to appear to move a little east against the background stars each day. We take our time from the sun, not from the stars, so we see the stars shifting a little west each day. This causes the stars to rise and set four minutes earlier each day. That is why we see different stars at different times of the year.

Most people know the pattern of the ‘The Pot’ or ‘The Saucepan’, Orion’s belt and sword in European and Middle Eastern astronomy. The Pot is first seen in the evening sky in spring when it is rising in the east. By summer it is midway up our northern sky at dusk. (Puaka/Rigel, a bright bluish star, is then straight above The Pot.) In the autumn The Pot falls lower in the western sky. Around the beginning of June it can be seen both setting in the dusk and rising in the dawn. So it never completely disappears from our sky. The three bright stars of The Pot are on the equator of the sky.

Stars in the south stay in our sky all the time. The Southern Cross is nearly overhead on May and June evenings. In August and September it is on its side in the southwest. In November it is upside down low on the south skyline. In February-March it is on its other side in the southeast sky.

The Earth’s axis is tilted to its orbit. That is why we have seasons. In our summer the southern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun. In our winter, when the Earth is around the other side of the sun, the southern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun. Between the summer and winter the Earth’s equator is pointed at the sun. That’s when we have the equinoxes: equal day and night.

The Earth’s tilt causes the Sun’s annual track through the stars to be tilted to the equator of the sky. In our summer the Sun hides star patterns of the southern sky around the Scorpion and Sagittarius.

As the Sun moves on these constellations appear in the dawn sky. They are overhead in mid-winter.

The Matariki/Pleiades star cluster is in the north sky close to the Sun’s track. So Matariki is hidden by the sun from late April to mid-June as the Sun moves past that part of the sky.

The Sun’s track is well north of, or below, Orion. So Puaka is never hidden by the sun from our southern hemisphere viewpoint. At the end of May and for most of June Puaka can be seen both setting in the western sky at dusk and rising in the eastern sky at dawn.

Matariki, being a cluster of stars much fainter than Puaka, is not seen in bright twilight nor when it is near the horizon. It has to be higher in a darker sky to be seen. There are no reliable naked-eye sightings of Matariki before June 14.